The impact of positive emotions on altruism in the presence of familiarity
Kalchev, Daniel (2017)
Kalchev, Daniel
2017
Master's Degree Programme in Quantitative Social Research
Yhteiskuntatieteiden tiedekunta - Faculty of Social Sciences
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Hyväksymispäivämäärä
2017-06-05
Julkaisun pysyvä osoite on
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:uta-201706262098
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:uta-201706262098
Tiivistelmä
This research studies the impact of positive emotions on altruism in different social contexts (or degrees of familiarity). In other words, it investigates to what extent emotional inducement techniques are able to stimulate pro-social behavior among perfect strangers and among real-life friends.
A growing body of literature has studied the complex nature of emotions and their role in the decision making process. Other scholars have investigated how social networks influence people s behavior. Yet most of the laboratory experiments in the field have focused predominantly on negative emotions, while keeping the subjects anonymous to each other without account for familiarity. To address this research gaps, I designed an experiment that compares four different treatments - a control group, a positive emotions group with strangers, an emotionally neutral group with friends, and a positive emotions group with friends. The participants in all groups were matched in pairs and played the dictator game .
The results from the statistical analysis show that friendship is a highly significant predictor of altruistic behavior the dictators in these treatments redistributed more money on average. On the other hand, positive emotions are not statistically significant, thus, failing to reject the null hypothesis. I look at three social theories that provide explanations for the strong connection between social relationships and altruism. Furthermore, I discuss why the emotional framing was not successful and stress on the role of negative emotions to provoke empathy and desire to help others. Additionally, I analyze the self-reported justifications of the subjects who pointed to sense of fairness and equality as their main motives to redistribute more. All of the presented arguments reveal the ambiguous nature of pro-social behavior - pure versus impure altruism.
Despite some limitations, my experiment produced valid and interesting findings that raised some questions for future research.
A growing body of literature has studied the complex nature of emotions and their role in the decision making process. Other scholars have investigated how social networks influence people s behavior. Yet most of the laboratory experiments in the field have focused predominantly on negative emotions, while keeping the subjects anonymous to each other without account for familiarity. To address this research gaps, I designed an experiment that compares four different treatments - a control group, a positive emotions group with strangers, an emotionally neutral group with friends, and a positive emotions group with friends. The participants in all groups were matched in pairs and played the dictator game .
The results from the statistical analysis show that friendship is a highly significant predictor of altruistic behavior the dictators in these treatments redistributed more money on average. On the other hand, positive emotions are not statistically significant, thus, failing to reject the null hypothesis. I look at three social theories that provide explanations for the strong connection between social relationships and altruism. Furthermore, I discuss why the emotional framing was not successful and stress on the role of negative emotions to provoke empathy and desire to help others. Additionally, I analyze the self-reported justifications of the subjects who pointed to sense of fairness and equality as their main motives to redistribute more. All of the presented arguments reveal the ambiguous nature of pro-social behavior - pure versus impure altruism.
Despite some limitations, my experiment produced valid and interesting findings that raised some questions for future research.